Reviews and Comments

TIL police jail victims of sexual assault or other violent crime to force them to testify against abusers.

These stories give a more full depiction of the horror visited upon the Iraqis with the American invasion. One story is about a man who leaves a mental asylum not knowing who he is – other than what is in his file – because the Americans demolished the walls thinking it was a military facility. Another is about how horrific it was to be a woman under the Baathist regime to be a leftist person who does not believe in Baathist regime ideals. I learned how close Iraq is to Iran and started looking for news about both the countries. I learned 3 Iraqi women who were influencers have been killed in Iraq www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/27/iraqi-tiktok-star-om-fahad-shot-dead-in-baghdad-night-attack and how Iran began a crackdown on women who did not cover their heads at the same time they launched their missiles on Israel military targets. www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/24/iranian-women-violently-dragged-from-streets-by-police-amid-hijab-crackdown

I had to skip multiple pages because there were too many words like "dialectic", "Anthroposemeiosis" (I refuse to learn this word) but this book is a grim documentation of how Tamils were failed by so many people including fellow tamils and how casteism is such a big barrier to unity among Tamils. I was also, once again, shocked by the tame demands of Tamils who fought united with the Sinhalese for freedom and how the anti-tamil riots of 1983 opened their eyes to how they will never be equal to the Sinhalese. The increased violence only made Tamils violent with each other as commanders tried to subjugate their troops with violence. There is so much trauma among the tamil diaspora of refugees from Sri Lanka.

I was compelled to complete this book. This book describes CSA and is set in the 70s Washington DC but called "Kingdoms" and so feels very mystical and lush. I really enjoyed the sentences peppered throughout the book.

I really enjoyed reading this especially about Bokashi composting which can compost OIL. I have not been making a lot of fried things because I didn't know how to use up the oil that remained. Here is a great in-kitchen process that can do it. All you have to do is to mix it up with some browny material like wood chips, cardboard, paper and soil after to fully let it decompose. Decided to buy myself a copy for reference.

I love how practical this book is. A lot of the recipes share ingredients that make short work of making these as weekly meals and there is enough recommendation for how to save the leftovers for later. Lots of vegetarian dishes as well. There are some assumptions about cooking made so it's not for the very beginner but the eagle eyed can YouTube these actions and make these meals. I loved Avocado pesto, soy veg momos I made so far.

While "Glory Be" is very upper class and fancy, this is more a working class mystery sequel to a non-mystery fiction. I didn't read the first in the series and it was still very interesting. Some homophobia and racism in the book though not sure the homophobia was warranted. It felt very cozy and lovely read.

Love Lev A C Rosen's historical mystery set in SF. I am still upset I had to learn from this book about whites only gay clubs. Here is the Facebook page of one of the whites only clubs that inspired the one in the book. Can you see any indication it was whites only? www.facebook.com/GLBTHistory/posts/jacks-baths-was-one-of-san-franciscos-longest-running-bathhouses-in-operation-fr/10152233415061176/

The mystery is perfect & the romance is not too sappy. Highly recommend for the great atmosphere created of SF in the 50s, the huge presence of Navy & its impact on San Francisco.

Why is it that I have to learn from a murder mystery that there were several "whites only" gay bars in San Francisco? Not a single history I have ready of gay bars in SF mention that fact explicitly.

I was so looking forward to making some Sri Lankan food but sadly this book does not deliver on that end. For example, the author writes so beautifully of Neer mor which is a yoghurt based spicy drink that you consume in summer and then the recipe that follows is not for Neer mor but for a labneh like dish "similar" to Neer mor. I never knew what was for breakfast/lunch/dinner but also didn't know how these dishes were supposed to be eaten. They looked like plates you get at a 5 star restaurant and not like a filling meal.

Additionally, this book requires fresh grated coconut for almost all its recipes which makes sense but also I wasn't in the vicinity of a store with that which made it really hard to find a recipe to cook with. Oh well.

I don't understand why I do this to myself. I always end up reading a whodunnit that tries to be so smart that it fails miserably. I really wanted to yank the collar of the author by the end (if you get to it, you will know why).

This book even got a NYT author profile!! I cannot even. www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/books/dann-mcdorman-west-heart-kill.html

Lovely southern mystery featuring a crotchety old lady who loves thrifting and her daughter who investigate the apparent suicide of a nun. Mystery is predictable but lovely descriptions of Louisiana, the racism that intersects with pollution, and almost no copaganda (except for a brief description of romance with a police officer).